When installing carpet, hardwood floor or other type of floor covering, both the removal of existing floor covering (including preparation of the floor surface) and the installation of the new floor covering is facilitated by having easy access to the floor surface, and in particular, the floor surface near to walls.
Access to the floor surface may not be easily or quickly achieved, particularly in an office setting, because of the presence of furniture and other obstacles positioned across the floor surface.
It may not be convenient to empty the room of the furniture, since there may not be an alternate and convenient space in which the furniture to be removed may be stored. Furthermore, it may be difficult to move the furniture, especially if all of the furniture is being moved, through doorways and openings and there is the possibility of damage to the room walls and doorways and to the furniture itself. Still further, the process of emptying a room of furniture may consume considerable resources, in terms of time, cost and human power.
An alternative that may be suitable in many cases of installation of floor coverings is to temporarily elevate and move the furniture a short distance away from its present location. In many instances, moving the furniture by approximately five feet away from a wall or corner may provide sufficient access to allow the existing floor covering to be removed, the floor surface prepared and the new floor covering to be installed.
There are a number of furniture moving devices. Typically, they consist of a portable structure with an upward extending telescoping portion, typically driven by a hydraulic jack. However, such devices surround the jack portion on all sides by a polygonal support structure for stability, with the result that such devices are typically intended to engage a central portion of the furniture from below and then lift it upward with the assistance of the jack.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,672 entitled “Collapsible Jack Stand and Method Therefor” and issued Jun. 29, 1999 to Dickey, discloses a highly portable collapsible jack stand. The jack stand is comprised of a plurality of leg members. Each leg member is detachably coupled to a top guide plate which is used to support and align a telescoping rod. A ram head is coupled to the telescoping rod and is used for supporting a load. A base plate is detachably coupled to the plurality of leg members. The base plate presents the jack stand from sinking into the ground when the jack stand is in use and under a heavy load. A low profile jack may be positioned underneath the telescoping rod for raising and lowering the telescoping rod thus raising and lowering the load on the jack stand apparatus.
Other such devices are designed for specific purposes and load characteristics, such as grand pianos. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,074 entitled “Piano Lift and Dolly” and issued Feb. 7, 1995 to Brown discloses a piano lift and dolly with an upper H-frame that engages a piano and a lower H-frame that is supported on wheels. Four posts extend vertically upwardly from the lower H-frame and are received in downwardly extending tubes connected to the upper H-frame. A jack has its base mounted on a cross beam of the lower H-frame and its jack RAM mounted directly to a center point of the cross beam of the upper H-frame. Two beams of the upper H-frame engage the underside of the piano at different heights with respect to a floor on which the dolly is supported. As the jack is raised, the RAM raises the upper H-frame with respect to the lower one to lift a piano off of the floor. In this way, the piano is moved without the legs of the piano engaging the floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,904,308 entitled “Piano Lifting Apparatus and Turntable Support” issued Sep. 15, 1959 to Vergara is to like effect. It provides the hoist with a turntable support for the piano, such support being provided with horizontally and vertically adjustable support means adapted to engage the variable level underside portions of a grand piano while it is being turned, for example to facilitate finishing or refinishing the woodwork.
Still other devices have a support structure with transverse load-bearing arms to reach in and under a side of the furniture to raise it. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,217 entitled “Lifting Apparatus” and issued Oct. 25, 1994 to Dach discloses a lifting apparatus which includes a base with two spaced apart tubular members extending substantially vertically from the base. Two telescopic members are telescopically received in the tubular members. A transverse member is secured transversely between the telescopic members. A jack positioning seat is positioned with the base vertically aligned with the transverse member, such that a jack placed on the jack positioning seat engages the transverse member to telescopically raise telescopic members. A pair of parallel spaced support arms extend from the transverse member, each support arm has lifting points adapted for positioning under an object to be lifted. The base is adapted to maintain stability when a load is placed on the lifting points of the support arms. The telescopic members are locked in a selected position relative to the tubular members when the object being lifted is at the desired height.
There remains a need for a simple lifting apparatus for elevating furniture and other loads which does not suffer from the limitations of the prior art.